Thomas Paine On The Origin Of Government

Thomas Paine begins Common Sense with the idea that government and society have different means and are often confused with each other. He states that “society is produced by our wants”, it is positive by “uniting our affections”, it “encourages intercourse”, and is a “patron” (Paine). Paine describes government as begin the opposite. He describes government as being produced by “our wickedness”, it promotes “negatively by restraining our vices”, “creates distensions, and government is a “punisher” (Paine). In conclusion to this, he describes government as “a necessary evil” (Paine).

He says that the “government is just” and that “there is nothing to engender riots and tumults”. It is very obvious that these things are not true in regard to our current government. Our current government is not just, as it is riddled with corruption and systemic oppression of minorities. In America today, only a small portion of the people feel protected by the government. It is also untrue that there is nothing that the government does which incites riots. We can see examples of riots and protests against the United States government occurring every day. Currently there are protests against racism in the police force, protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, and protests such as the Women’s March against our new president. This shows that Paine’s description of a fair and just government does not hold true

From the beginning, Paine makes it obvious that he does not like the idea of a government. Paine believes the only value of a government lies in controlling our weaknesses. According to Paine, the natural state of man is to live without a government and its control. A government's existence is justified only to remove problems that would be created by this natural, anarchic way of life. If the government does not to improve society or actively causes some of the same troubles that would result from anarchy, it becomes their fault. However, Paine views the idea of a government as a necessary evil. A large part of Paine’s argument is devoted to attacking monarchy. Paine criticizes the monarchy as an institution and, in particular, its manifestation

Paine saw the government as a haunted evil that could only become acceptable when it was depicted accurately and altered by elections. Paine uses inspiration by which people’s beliefs, aspirations, ambitions and requirements are specified. His articles brought audacity in a time of need to people who desired to become self-reliant. At the time that Paine wrote “Common Sense” the colonies were however contemplating about announcing their independence from Great

liberty and property. Paine claims that, "government even in its best state is but a necessary

First, society grows; a government becomes needed, and in turn laws. Next, because of growth and the inability to gather the people all together, elections become needed. He describes these simple concepts as “the best balance between government and society” (Paine, n.pag.). After clearly explaining to the people his ideas, he uses his concepts to discredit the “monarchial and aristocratic tyranny” (Paine, n.pag.) in the English Constitution. He further examines the lack of appropriate checks and balances, and charges it as unable to “be the gift of a wise people” (Paine, n.pag.). In this section, Paine successfully illustrates an expectation of appropriate government, in a basic construction that puts organization to the public’s desires.

Paine states that society and government are completely different in purpose and also different in origin. Society is created innocently for the people's happiness although the government is poison but necessary product made by desires of people to

The first point Paine makes in his pamphlet is an argument against the concept of monarchy, in his opinion a corrupt and worthless institution. Paine supported the values of equality among all human beings and for this reason he was against the Britain hereditary succession, which did not evaluate the skills and knowledge of the people who were ruling the country. Even if Paine criticized the British monarchial government, he also brought to light the form of government that he believed would have suited America: a democracy. Pain

From his experience with England's shabbily structured monarchy, his reasons to break free from it grew exponentially. Paine mentioned that if a country that has a government is hindered by oppression, it is far worse than if the same behaviors were to occur on its own, since the people create and support the government, and are therefore financing their own poor condition. Paine insist that if all people could act morally, then government would not be necessary but, because humans have errant tendencies, government becomes a necessity to the protection of well-being and property. Paine was sincere when he exclaimed, “ We have it in our power to begin the world over again.” Paine insists on a small government unlike the tyranny in Britain where its dysfunctionality and unfair governing had caused extreme resentment. Ruling another country from an oceans distance was simply not practical, nor did Paine find it necessary. Instead representation (and not monarchy) is essential to “ the strength of government and happiness of the governed” (Paine). The government's primary function is to restrain evil in man albeit, “ a necessary evil.” Paine's persuasive and urgent tone in his writing in Common Sense created an environment where debate was openly conversed about involving revolution which eventually summed up some of the very reasons to revolt. The colonies had become its own

Thomas Paine writings were inspired by passion, situations that occur during this time period which had influences on his writings. The time period of which his writing occurred were between the seventeen hundreds through the eighteen hundreds, also he is considered as the Founding Father of The United States. His writing was towards the people of society of that present time. His main focus in society was the elderly and social security for the poor, which made Paine the first advocate of a World Peace Organization. In this paragraph you can see that Thomas Paine was more in favor of lower class people and the elderly because of lack of help and resources for them to live a stable life style. I can say our current society they are some politicians that still fight for bills they came up with or someone else to help

Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant, and a fearful master.” -George Washington

Thomas Paine, the man who helped inspire a revolution, the man who wrote controversial pamphlets and rousing songs that kept soldiers fighting, the man who was one of the greatest supporters of human rights, held, in his heart, the belief that the American government system was so flawlessly formed that their were no causes for discord. While Thomas Paine’s ideal may certainly have been correct in 1791, it is no longer. The American government system, and those who make it, has been compromised. They’ve been traded, sold, and (most importantly) bought, by those who have the mean to do so; creating a system where the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and where privilege is defined as being white and male. Theses issues are inarguably cause

Humans cannot always be expected to follow their conscience completely; if they did, they would be perfect. Perfection is, in my opinion, contrary to the basic characteristics of humanity. Paine also asserts that “the strength of one man is so unequal to his wants” that humanity must rely on others, such as those within the necessary evil of government, to accomplish goals (1). These new insights helped me realize the link between the ‘big’ ideas of government and revolution and individual human nature, deepening my understanding and appreciation of Common

Throughout Common Sense, Thomas Paine shows that he is against Monarchical government, and he says that the government type itself is not a reasonable means of ruling a nation. To support this, he sheds light on several reasons in which a monarchy is a bad choice for government. Paine says that all the power is unbalanced and vested in the hands of a single person, which most of the time leads to the King of the nation using the powers he has, against his people, for the benefit of himself, and those around him. Paine also says that to have hereditary succession of a monarch is complete nonsense. Paine uses his reason to support this case by showing that maybe a nation is lucky and has a well fit ruler as a King, but who is to say the King’s successor will be best fit for the position of King or Queen of a country. The notion that one ruler is fair and just, does NOT guarantee that the successor will be as just or as fair.

George Washington once said , “Government is not reason ; it is not eloquent , it is force . Like fire it's is a dangerous servant a fearful master”.